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Friday, December 31, 2010

PM urges Malaysians to build a better future

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today urged all Malaysians to fulfil their responsibility in building a better future for the coming generations and place the country in its rightful position.

Najib (picture), in his 2011 New Year message, said the government’s plans and programmes would not be successful without the support and cooperation of the people.

“Let’s not be satisfied and just sit back to be mere critics. Let’s mould a better future for the coming generations.

“The power to build lies in the hands of the people. Fulfil this responsibility as best as you can,” he said.

Najib reminded the present generation not to gamble away the future of the coming generations by making wrong decisions.

“This is not the time to experiment, but a time to renew and strengthen the trust in what has been proven to be effective,” he said.

The prime minister said the government always adopted full responsibility in the management of the country, in particular the economy.

“As a government sensitive to the pulse of the people, we will not at all neglect the people’s interests by making a promise or a decision which seems to be popular but is actually to the detriment of the interests of everyone,” he said.

He said any government which promised or formulated popular but irresponsible policies would gain recognition or support in the short term, but in the long term it would be the people who would suffer.

“Learning from mistakes, throughout 2010, we built a strong foundation to ensure that the nation’s potentials and resources can be stimulated and mobilised towards achieving the national vision,” he said.

He identified the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) along with the six National Key Result Areas (NKRA) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) with the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) as the basis of the New Economic Model, the 10th Malaysia Plan and Budget 2011, which served as a comprehensive roadmap to raise the living standard and quality of life of the people to a higher level.

“All this while, the government, which was given the mandate, has striven with sincerity to meet the people’s needs and national progress to the best of its ability.

“Unfortunately, some quarters have arbitrarily accused the government of being inclined to implement specific projects, particularly mega projects. Such accusations are not true at all,” he said.

Some people, especially the opposition, had criticised the construction of several projects including the North-South Expressway, the Petronas Twin Towers and the Penang Bridge, he said, adding that they were now too embarrassed to admit their mistake because these projects had brought much benefit to the people.

“The question is if their opinions have proven to be wrong in such major matters, how can the people possibly trust any of their promises?” he said, adding that the opposition’s proposed 100-day reform announced recently would only raise expenditure as it did not consider the realities of the national revenue and sources of funds.

Saying he hoped that the people would be able to make their own evaluation, Najib said the government had all along focused on the objective of ensuring sustainable economic growth.

This was because a boost in national wealth would provide for a rise in expenditure and enable the implementation of social justice, he said.

“It is directly proportional, meaning an increase in government revenue will result in a rise in expenditure for the people’s well-being,” he said and urged the people regardless of race and religion to heed the call to strive for the pinnacle of success. – Bernama